
{"id":7196,"date":"2009-09-24T13:43:49","date_gmt":"2009-09-24T21:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=7196"},"modified":"2009-09-24T13:43:49","modified_gmt":"2009-09-24T21:43:49","slug":"letter-addressing-homelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2009\/09\/24\/letter-addressing-homelessness\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter: Addressing homelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We cannot accept the current condition of homelessness in our communities. This is especially true for a sizeable and particularly tragic segment of our homeless population. A disproportionate 16 percent of adults who are homeless are diagnosed with a severe mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder) and 30-70 percent of those also have a substance-use disorder (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2008).<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>These individuals present complex challenges to an already under-supported and insufficient mental health \u00e2\u20ac\u0153non-system.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d To serve this population successfully, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s essential that communities advance and expand mental health treatment models with demonstrated effectiveness. <\/p>\n<p>One approach with well-documented superiority compared with other models is aptly named assertive community treatment (ACT). ACT is among the most evidence-supported and effective practices for improving outcomes for homeless individuals with severe mental illness (Coldwell &#038; Bender, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Effectiveness of ACT for Homeless Populations with Severe Mental Illness: A Meta-Analysis,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d American Journal of Psychiatry, March 2007). At the center of the ACT model is a multi-disciplinary team of mental health professionals that includes at least one psychiatrist, social worker, substance abuse specialist, nurse, vocational specialist and\/or housing specialist. This team delivers almost all services in the community outside of the traditional office setting. It assists clients in all areas of life and provides services directly rather than brokering them out to other agencies. Perhaps the most crucial aspect of the team is its emphasis on outreach and the building of ongoing, hope-instilling relationships. <\/p>\n<p>ACT works. The American Journal of Psychiatry recently published a review of 10 separate studies on the effectiveness of ACT for homeless persons with severe mental illness. ACT showed an astonishing 104 percent greater reduction in homelessness and a 62 percent further improvement in symptoms of mental illness compared with other case-management treatments. <\/p>\n<p>It is a sad reflection on our community that more people who could otherwise be helped out of homelessness and into recovery from psychiatric disabilities are not receiving needed treatment services, housing support and public embrace. ACT is part of the solution; but a problematic theme in our fragmented service system persists \u00e2\u20ac\u201c ACT is scarce. <\/p>\n<p>Spencer Cook<br \/>\nHousing coordinator<br \/>\nXDS INc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We cannot accept the current condition of homelessness in our communities. This is especially true for a sizeable and particularly tragic segment of our homeless population. A disproportionate 16 percent of adults who are homeless are diagnosed with a severe mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder) and 30-70 percent of those also have a substance-use&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7196"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7198,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7196\/revisions\/7198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}